Turkey is expected to approve Finland's NATO membership soon, while leaving Sweden's aspirations in limbo. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö is scheduled to meet with his Turkish counterpart,

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Istanbul on Friday, which is seen as a sign that Ankara is close to endorsing Helsinki's NATO ambitions. Niinistö stated that Erdoğan wanted to meet and fulfill his promise directly from President to President, after deciding on the ratification of Finland's NATO membership.

While NATO formally invited Finland and Sweden to join the alliance last summer, Turkey and Hungary have delayed the ratification process. Finland's membership process is expected to move forward without Sweden, as Ankara is still unhappy with Stockholm over arms exports and support for Kurdish groups. Negotiations and policy changes have been ongoing for several months in both Helsinki and Stockholm, and a Quran-burning incident in Stockholm has escalated tensions.

However, Western officials still hold out hope that Turkey's parliament will ratify Sweden's membership, possibly after the country's May elections and ahead of a NATO summit scheduled for July in Lithuania. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has expressed his desire for both Finland and Sweden to become full members of NATO as soon as possible, at least by the Vilnius Summit.

In his statement, the Finnish president emphasized the importance of Sweden's NATO membership and pledged to continue his work to support it. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson acknowledged that Helsinki and Stockholm's membership paths have diverged, and that Turkey is prepared to ratify Finland before Sweden. He stated that every country makes its own ratification decisions and hoped for a rapid ratification after the Turkish elections.

Overall, the approval of Finland's NATO membership by Turkey is a significant development that could potentially pave the way for Sweden's ratification. While Ankara has raised concerns about arms exports and support for Kurdish groups from both countries, negotiations and policy changes have been ongoing to address these issues. The upcoming meeting between the Finnish and Turkish presidents will likely shed more light on Ankara's position and future steps towards Sweden's NATO aspirations. Photo by Santeri Viinamäki, Wikimedia commons.